“It's all fun and games until someone gets poked in the eye": unpacking the experiences of players within women's community football leagues

Introduction/Conceptualization: Loneliness and social isolation are growing areas of concern owing to their negative impact on physical and mental health outcomes. The health outcomes of marginalised communities are also a national priority in Australia. Participating in leisure through outdoor community team sports has been shown to improve overall health outcomes through its complex role in improving physical, mental, and social wellbeing. However, sports dominated by men, such as football, have been seen to have a history of excluding people based on their gender from community to elite levels of the sport. Women’s football leagues have been gaining attention in the media from around the world and many promises have been made at government and elite football organisational levels that women’s football will be better resourced at a community level.

Approach/Description: In this qualitative study, 14 people over the age of 18 who played in women’s football leagues in Australia in the 2024 winter season took part in semi-structured interviews about their overall experiences, their experiences of inclusion, and what systems or resources have or might best support their football experience. A social constructionist approach to the reflexive thematic analysis of these interviews was adopted. Social safety theory was also used to further explore how social ties and messages at all levels of communities affect the overall physical, mental, and social wellbeing of players. The findings present new insights as to the actual experiences of players in women’s football leagues, where players go to great lengths at an individual level to improve their physical, mental, and social safety but are often at risk of injury or attack related to failings of their community sport system. Examples of such failings include experiences of aggression from opposing players and coaches, not having equitable access to safe playing fields, and insufficient support for transgender players despite inclusive policies. Despite the many promises at government and elite football organisational levels, the findings also provide evidence that community football is experienced as more expensive compared to other community sports.

Considerations/Conclusions: Football is one of the most played and well-known team sports in the world, which calls in to question the way that Australian local councils and football organisations charge individual players at a community level compared to sports such as rugby league and Australian football. Future directions for this work should take the intersection of players’ lived experience into account when directing funding and development strategies and evaluate the fee structure among community football leagues (as well as in comparison to other community sport leagues) to ensure equitable funding and access and inclusion in community sport.